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Where is the gym located?
Sociedad Secreta BJJ gym is located on Jacinto Dávila and Tnte. Hugo Ortíz streets in downtown Puyo, a beautiful city in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Its warm weather, breathtaking landscapes, and tourist attractions like rivers and waterfalls create the perfect setting to be in contact with nature and BJJ.

How many people train there?
The training team consists of approximately 25 people – including kids.

Is the gym growing – if so by how many new members each month or year?
Sociedad Secreta is the fastest growing academy in the province. Despite being a relatively new academy, after just four months since our opening we have had great acceptance among people. Actually, we have on average 5 new students per week.

What are the highest and lowest belt grades training in Sociedad Secreta, BJJ Ecuador?
Of the people currently training in Sociedad Secreta, purple is the highest belt, and we have several white belts. Additionally, we often receive visits from Joaquín Gavilanes, who is the black belt in change of the academy.

When did the gym open?
Sociedad Secreta BJJ opened on February 14th 2024. However, our official opening event was on March 9th, where people who attended watched Ecuadorian Chito Vera’s fight for the UFC bantamweight championship.

Some facts about you:

Name: Ivan Esteban Diaz
Age: 30
Belt: Purple
Profession: Dentist
Years in BJJ: 8 years approximately
Other martial arts: BJJ was the first martial art I got interested in. However, I have also tried kickboxing and Muay Thai.
Currently living in: Puyo city, Ecuador
Originally from: I was born in Puyo and I currently live here

Please tell us the story of how Sociedad Secreta, BJJ Ecuador came into existence
It all started with a group of four friends – me being the leader. We started practicing in my living room. At that time I used to live and train in another city, but I had the idea of creating an academy for many years due to the lack of BJJ gyms in my hometown.

Tell us about the people that train in the gym – who are they?
The people training in Sociedad Secreta are part of my friends group, as well as other people who have joined this martial family, and we have created a solid group of friends full of good vibes and energy.

What are some of the challenges of running a BJJ gym in general, and in your area specifically?
One of the biggest challenges of running the academy was starting and positioning ourselves, but excellent marketing, good vibes, and love for Jiu-Jitsu have put us on the map, not only within the city, but the country.

How do you see the future for BJJ in your area?
We work hard every day to give BJJ visibility within the city, because a short time ago people didn’t know a thing about it. Our objective is to prepare athletes for national and international competencies. That’s why I remain active participating in competitions, to practice what I preach.

We take advantage of visitors like Joaquín. He supports the academy with workshop activities where students can learn and practice new techniques and, most importantly, have fun while doing what they like.

What’s the best thing about Sociedad Secreta, BJJ Ecuador?
I believe that the best thing about Sociedad Secreta is the friendly environment we have. We try to instill the BJJ lifestyle to every new student and make them feel part of this family.

What would you recommend Globetrotters to see in your area apart from the inside of your gym?
The Ecuadorian Amazon is the hometown of strong and capable people. This is a place full of potential to prepare world-class athletes just like Roberto Jiménez, Johnny Tama, the Iturralde brothers, and many others who put Ecuador in the BJJ map.

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Thanks for sharing! If you’d like to visit Sociedad Secreta, BJJ Ecuador, you can contact them here.

As we get ready for our 100th camp in a few days, I thought it would be fun to look back at some favorite memories from the last 12 years of this crazy adventure. While we’ve primarily focused on Jiu Jitsu at the camps, technique and rolling can be a bit boring to write about, so here is a non-exhaustive list, in random order, of memorable events from the last 99 camps!

The First Ever Camp

It was somehow coordinated that around 20 people—most of them I had met on a recent trip around the world—would all come train with us in Copenhagen for a week. Royce Gracie happened to be in town as well and he was actually the first instructor we ever hired for a camp. We had such an amazing time, and I knew right away that I had stumbled onto something special that I wanted to do more. They came back the next summer, brought some friends along, and the rest is history. I don’t have a single picture or video from that camp so you’re gonna have to do with the original spreadsheet of participants!

Fight Show in the Carlsberg Breweries

Our club in Copenhagen basically started out as a drinking club with a Jiu Jitsu problem and later turned into a Jiu Jitsu club with a drinking problem. We wanted to throw some big, fun parties, but we were poor. Early on, we realized that the camps could be a way to fund these dreams. One summer, we rented the recently closed Carlsberg Breweries buildings in Copenhagen and hosted a big summer party for the camp and our club’s members. We had a cage installed and ran some memorable matches; one of the kids from the club fought the teacher of the kids’ team. MMA rules. In suits. What a night!

Vodka & Violence

One of the first camps we did outside of Denmark was in El Salvador. Random, I know, but I wanted to go surfing. It was a small camp with only 20 people in a private house by the beach. We had a lot of spare time just relaxing in the garden during the day. Our beloved camper friend Oksana came all the way from Russia and didn’t speak any English. One day she was away with half the camp for sightseeing, and we decided to make a little film for her, completely in Google Translated Russian. And so, the movie trailer “Vodka & Violence” was born. I took us all day to film it because we laughed so much and had to film every scene so many times.

Swimming in the freezing ocean in Greenland

It’s already crazy enough to think that we hosted two camps in Greenland, of all places. The most remote, wild, and spectacular place I’ve ever visited. It’s expensive to get there, so I thought I would make the camp free for participants. To avoid too many people signing up for a free camp without being serious about actually going, I required a deposit that they would ONLY get back if they jumped in the ocean in Greenland during camp. Spoiler alert: Tons of people still signed up, then immediately realized that Greenland is far away and difficult to get to. I kept my word and only refunded those who got in the slushy waves with us! The camp itself was a truly amazing experience as we rolled with the locals, sailed with random fishermen to whale watch and got to know the life of people living in this special place.

“Crossface”

A handful of campers managed to put together a band and played live at the final open mat of the 2019 Summer Camp in Heidelberg, Germany. How often do you get to have a mosh pit at your open mat?

Summer Camp 2013 party & Fight Night

It was our club’s 10 year anniversary and we decided to have a big camp with a big party to end it. It was an epic location with a cage on the dance floor, where I had the silly idea to fight MMA against my long term training partner. Now veteran camp instructor Halldor from Iceland was only 16 at the time but his parents wrote a nice little handwritten note to us that said “It’s ok, Halldor can fight”. And so he got in the ring for an amateur MMA fight at the end up camp.

The First and Only UK Camp

It was the warmest week in 10 years in Bournemouth, and the camp was a beautiful, hilarious train wreck. Only one of the four big celebrity names we had on the poster actually showed up for the camp, but we had a fantastic time nonetheless.

Vikings vs. Tourists

It started as kind of a joke but ended up becoming a big tradition in Iceland: The Vikings vs. Tourists competition in traditional Icelandic wrestling, Glima. The old fighting art is struggling to stay alive, but we’re doing our part to help it as we once a year step up to get smashed by the Vikings and collect those sweet silver medals for Instagram.

“The Gentle Art of Travel” Documentary

Hands down the biggest side project we’ve ever done at the camps. Little did we know about a global pandemic lurking just around the corner, but it somehow made the long-awaited premiere an even more special experience. After two and a half years of work, we finally showed the film in a movie theater in Reykjavik, Iceland, followed by showings in Germany and Estonia before we made the film public on YouTube.

Open mat in a 1000-year old church

At the Castle Camp in Italy we had our own, private little church that dates back around 1000 years. One a rainy day, we pulled the mats in and it was perfect for an open mat!

Diving Contest Almost Became a Dying Contest

Our early camps in Belgium were in a sports hall with a swimming pool. An impromptu diving competition got us banned, but it didn’t stop us from doing it again at several other camps in everything from Olympic-sized pools to kiddie pools. It all ended in Arizona where someone dived from a giant ladder into a tiny pool, making everyone stop breathing for several seconds. She survived, but the diving competition was put to rest forever.

The Assassination Game

The assassination game started with squirt guns at the USA Camp, but we quickly realized that the Zen Camp in Poland was the perfect setting for this if we played it with plastic ninja swords. Countless hours have been spent hiding in bushes and trees, waiting for a target to come by.

We rented a Castle. Six times.

I had an old checklist of things I wanted to try and do in life, and one of them was to rent a castle. It took almost 10 years before the camps made that possible. It was supposed to be a one-off, but we ended up having Castle Camps five times in Italy and Portugal. Those were small, intimate camps with only a few people and lots of food and wine.

Hosted Two Weddings

It happens that people meet at camps, and somehow it also happened that some of these people decided to get married at camp. Why not!

Forest Fisticuffs

The wrestling show at the USA Camp in Maine was a random idea one year, but it quickly became a new tradition that I think will keep happening for many years to come.

Cabin Parties

During the pandemic, we really missed our pub crawls at the European city camps. We still managed to do some camps in the US, and that’s when we got the idea to do a “pub crawl” between the cabins of the USA Camp in Maine. The moment we found ourselves dancing in a tiny, wooden cabin with a DJ and decorations all over, we knew this would have to become a staple of that camp.

Scooter Race

A horribly bad idea, but to everyone’s surprise, nobody got hurt during a giant race on electric scooters at the Beach Camp in Pärnu, Estonia. Not sure we’ll do that again, though!

Plague Camp

Just months before the pandemic, we had a Winter Camp where pretty much everyone got sick with a horrible fever. At some point, we just gave up waiting it out, and the open mats were a battlefield of fever hallucinations. Many of us got tested for antibodies later on, and it wasn’t COVID, so we’d like to believe we did the whole pandemic thing before it became cool for the rest of the world. Can you spot the special guest on the group photo?

50th Camp Party

The 50th camp in 2019 was celebrated in style with an epic party in Heidelberg, Germany. We somehow negotiated an all-you-can-drink deal with the place at a very good price and ended up literally drying out the bar. The staff was very impressed; the manager, not so much.

Black Belt Promotions

While we do belt evaluations and promotions at camp now and then, it’s something that we keep to a minimum. Over the course of 99 camps, we’ve promoted only four black belts, as far as I remember. Each time, it has of course been a very special moment, as it’s always someone who has been part of the camps for many years. Honorary mention goes to Giles Garcia, who got his black belt disguised as a pizza, with no clue what was waiting for him in the box!

Dodgeball Championships

At the USA camps in Maine and Arizona, we’ve had some epic dodgeball tournaments. Nothing comes close to the moment when Seb from the UK—who is slightly disabled—took out an entire opposing team on his own and sprained his ankle in the process. The victory scene was straight out of Rocky, and we don’t have any pictures of it because everyone was lost in the moment.

Someone Borrowed a Flag

There are many ways the camps have made their mark on the world. One of them was when a certain iconic flag was missing from a certain iconic castle in a certain Central European country. Legend says that a group of people (who may or may not have been campers) spotted it from a bar and decided to go borrow it in the middle of the night, scaling a castle wall that had up until that moment defended the city from invaders since medieval times. The flag was returned safely with an apology note a few days later.

The Party Camp

Everyone who went will testify that this was one of the wildest camps ever. Distortion was a street festival in Copenhagen where more than half a million people partied in the streets every day for a week. It was pure madness, and I don’t think there’s anything like it anywhere in the world. So we decided to host a camp during the same week where both Gianni Grippo and Kenan Cornelius were teaching. Incredibly enough, we actually managed to train quite a lot every single day!

Snowman Competition

When a team of Icelandic guys signed up for the first-ever snowman competition at the Winter Camp, we knew we could expect something out of the ordinary. Look at how proud they are of their art piece!

Kids’ Disco Night

We have done a lot of fun things for grownups at camp, but at the summer version of the Austria Camp, we’ve been trying to do the same for kids. One of the most fun things we’ve hosted has been the kids’ disco night. It’s approximately an hour of dancing with balloons, costumes, and glowsticks, but we often hear from the kids that they felt like it was all night long and the best night of their lives. So cute!

The First Winter Camp

The first Winter Camp in 2015 was a complete mess. We didn’t have much experience yet in organizing camps, and it showed. We all had a great time, but I slept a total of two hours in three nights and I was pretty sure I was going to pass out on the last day when I found myself basically all alone to load mats onto a truck and drive them to three different Judo clubs around the area. The later Winter Camps became better and better organized, and the only few little things we can report from there are minor occurrences, such as setting a bar on fire.

Techno Bunker

Where and how the Techno Bunker exactly started, I am not sure. But it has become a tradition that has spanned many of our camps now. Usually kicking off at midnight at some point during a camp week, it’s a lights-off, glow-in-the-dark, techno open mat.

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There are many more fantastic memories I could add to this list but I will have to stick with this. Here is a little bonus slideshow with photos of good times at camps that I stumbled over when researching for this article:

Next stop is our one-hundredth camp, starting in two days. I am currently sitting in a strange, small castle hotel next to a highway just outside of Rome, finishing up this article before we head to the camp tomorrow, early in the morning. It’s been a long and wild ride to get to this milestone and I often stop to think how on earth we ended up here.

I deeply appreciate each and every one of you who decided to join us along the way, whether for a little bit or for many years.

Thank you ❤️

Christian

Age: 33

Belt: Blue

Profession: Cloud support engineer for a data governance solution at a big IT company. Used to be an English teacher once upon a time (yes, I sang baby shark with a bunch of 7 year olds). Also had a one-night gig as a waitress at a strip club during my student days.

How many years in BJJ: First contact in 2018, training regularly since Sept 2021.

Other martial arts: Joined karate classes during the 90s karate boom in Poland, but my parents signed me out after a couple of classes for fear I was going to beat up boys at school (spoiler alert, I still did). My dad taught me some boxing principles (he is a boxing instructor by education), which I eagerly tested on the boys. In high school I took up capoeira for one year. I earned the first corda (white-yellow), but never learned my Capoeira name (the coach gives you a name after the batizado, first graduation).

Where do you live: Right now Puerto de Sagunto, Valencia, Spain, is the place I call home. But Spain in general.

Where are you from: An absolutely grim shithole in central Poland, Grojec. It was my life’s mission to get away from the place. If it weren’t for my parents who still live there, I’d probably never go back. Other than this, Poland is a pretty cool place to be from, and many people genuinely believe in the legendary Polish power.

Other fun or curious information you would like to share: Although I was a highly independent and capable child, my mom had spoon fed me until the age of 9. I knew perfectly well how to operate cutlery, but why bother if someone could do it for me? I had a low appetite anyway. The only thing that would do the trick and make me eat by myself was to threaten to tell my school “fiance”.

As a kid, I was madly in love with Ricky Martin (him being gay wasn’t common knowledge back then, thank god). I fulfilled my childhood dream by going to his concert in Barcelona a few years ago, and he was as dashing as ever.

I would do fashion shows for my parents using towels and scarves. Once I even employed my grandma and great grandma, who were seamstresses, to sew clothes based on my designs. There were items for me, my mom, and even some sort of a thong for my dad 🤣

I drove alone from Poland to Spain and back, which gave me serious driving trauma.

Monika Leżańska – BJJ Globetrotters

 

Tell us what inspired you to travel and train?
I’ve always been inspired to travel, so traveling and training was a natural step, especially since before Jiu Jitsu I did Crossfit for a while, where visiting other gyms is also a common thing. I have zero motivation to work out by myself, and I am not disciplined at all when I travel, so it feels good to throw in some Jiu Jitsu training here and there for my physical and mental well-being.

Gyms feel like home, regardless of the country. When I enter a gym, I am back in my comfort zone and I know what to do and how to behave. Everything is familiar and the people are not strangers – they are my training partners. It balances out the constant novelty of traveling.

Tell us about your most recent travel and your upcoming travel – where have you been and where are you going?
I’ve been on a traveling streak for the past 10 years (unleashing the beast started with ditching my ex, doing my first solo hitchhiking trip from Warsaw to Gdańsk in Poland, and going on the Erasmus exchange to Lisbon), and even more now that I work remotely and can afford more traveling. As I’m writing this, I’m sitting on a plane back from Poland after the Zen Camp to Valencia. The camp was an opportunity for me to rediscover Poland and look at it through the eyes of a tourist for the first time – and it’s so beautiful in spring. I went sailing in the Lake District (Mazury) in the north of the country, and overall I felt reconnected with my roots. Before Pärnu (Beach Camp) in July, I’m planning to visit Finland for the first time (long live matsurfing). In the meantime I’ll do some short trips with my camper van. Spain is a paradise on earth for caravaning and hiking, and my region – Comunidad Valenciana – is especially abundant in calas (small sheltered beaches) and pozas (natural pools).

Monika Leżańska – BJJ Globetrotters

What are the things you enjoy about travelling?
Because I get bored and become restless quickly, I enjoy the novelty, the thrill of an unfamiliar place, the feeling that anything can happen. The renewed sense of awe towards ordinary things – just walking down the street in a new place, watching people have a coffee etc. The change of routine, clearing my mind of daily worries. Also, I find the experience of traveling from one place to another almost meditative. I never get bored at the airport, on a plane, or in the car. I am not in my usual place (with my usual thoughts), not yet at the destination – it’s some sort of in-between space-time where there is nothing to do and I’m alone with random thoughts…

I am a huge advocate for couchsurfing, which I use both as a host and surfer. Over 50 people must have surfed my couch in Lisbon. There were 2-week streaks where I just washed bedsheets over and over, because every 2-3 days I had new visitors.
Thanks to couchsurfing I met people I would probably never meet in normal life and I got to peek into their daily lives, hear their stories, learn their recipes, and compare our habits and languages. I saw places I would never see otherwise. I visited bars and restaurants and natural spots hidden from tourists. In Thailand, I got to do a road-trip with two Thai girls. We camped at a natural park with a bunch of other locals, where I was the only foreigner.

With some of the couchsurfers I’ve built friendships that lasted for years, some of them until today. I even got my first teaching job through couchsurfing.

Can you give us some examples of experiences you had that make it worth traveling and training?
Globetrotters camps! To the camps I owe so many amazing people with whom I became friends. Like Jakub Siberski (aka. The Last Man Standing) – we visit each other and have so many adventures together (yet we remember so few)! I got to see my idol Craig Jones at a seminar in Thailand <3.

I enjoy the sense of belonging to a Jiu Jitsu community. The people are genuinely happy to receive visitors at their gyms; I have always felt very welcome. It’s a great way of measuring my level not just against people from my club, but a wider population of athletes with a variety of different styles. I learned a lot of useful things and tricks from other practitioners and coaches. Visiting other gyms also helped me mentally before competitions by removing the fear of facing strangers. I step onto the mats with more confidence and one less layer of anxiety.

What has so far been the most surprising experience for you when traveling?
I had so many adventures, big, small, weird, strange, and heartwarming, that it’s hard to pick a few.

I got close to getting married in Marrakesh so that we could stay in one room with a male Moroccan friend. According to Moroccan law, a man and a woman cannot share a room unless married (it applies to Moroccan citizens only). I even went to the washroom to wash my feet: my thought process was that one shouldn’t get married with dirty feet 🤣🤣🤣

Almost got arrested for wearing shorts in Rome. Okay, not me but my ex, and getting arrested was probably out of the question. My ex had a habit of pulling up the legs of his shorts (a habit shared by many Crossfit people, someone please explain). On that hot August day he was wearing a long tank top, which combined must have made him look like he was not wearing any shorts at all. Clearly it must have been a violation of some Roman street rule (no male shall bare his legs in public or something), because we got approached by the polizia, who first inspected his lower body and instructed him to pull down the legs of his shorts so that they cover his thighs. The polizia-men were totally fine, however, with my tiny shorts barely covering my butt. Viva l’Italia!

In some small Spanish village we struck up a chat with a local, and when he found out that I was Polish he started reciting Witold Gombrowicz (a modernist Polish writer) from memory and explained that he learned the language by himself because he really enjoyed his writing. Mind blown.

Among the people I hosted on couchsurfing, there was one psychologist specializing in dreams. I am usually a very rational, down-to-earth person, but I do acknowledge there are things beyond our comprehension. We talked a lot about sleep-related phenomena, like lucid dreaming. During her visit, I experienced it for the first time, without trying or exercising. It was a thrilling experience. We also had a very interesting dream-therapy session, which made an unpleasant recurrent dream I used to have go away.

Monika Leżańska – BJJ Globetrotters

Are you a budget traveller – and if so how do you plan for a cheap trip?
If there was an award for budget traveling, Polish people would get it without a doubt. The desire to travel and explore is so deep, it’s really impressive how far we can stretch our tiny PLN budgets. I managed to travel a lot as a student by means of couchsurfing, staying in the biggest dorms in the cheapest hostels (some places I’d rather forget), sleeping in my car, wild camping sometimes (illegal in most of Europe), traveling to where I had friends; no taxis, only public transport, getting food and drinks from supermarkets rather than eating out, doing stuff that is free, planning things ahead and doing research to avoid tourist traps, choosing options for locals rather than for tourists (eg. a hotel-provided taxi in Marrakech is 4 times more expensive than one hailed in the streets). Traveling with hand-luggage and being smart about packing.

Even though now I don’t need to be so disciplined and I seek more comfort when traveling, the above habits are still my default and I can choose to break them to treat myself, or when I am tired etc. The accommodation is a secondary thing to me, I don’t travel to spend time in a room. So as long as I have a bed and a shower (will pay extra for no cockroaches), I am good. I definitely spend more on experiences now, like trips, classes, sports activities, cultural or historical attractions, but overall the student mentality allows me to travel a lot and not ruin myself in a blink.

If you were to pass on travel advice to your fellow Globetrotters, what would it be?
I think Globetrotters are a bunch well versed in the art of traveling, so I’m not sure what else I could share. I can highly recommend couchsurfing (or matsurfing); people are often shy or worried about staying at a stranger’s place, but in my experience the pros outweigh the cons. Same for hostels. I also love traveling alone – I very rarely travel with other people, and as much fun as it is to travel with company, I find those solitary trips more enriching and I usually do more things and I am motivated to be more active and outgoing. Also, get a van :D I absolutely love my #vanlife trips, the freedom to sleep wherever I want and just roam around.

Thank you to Monika Leżańska – BJJ Globetrotters for making this interview

Where is the gym located?
Húsavík, Iceland. It’s a small town with a population of 2500 people. The closest big town/city is Akureyri.

How many people train there?
Around 25 people, which makes 1% of the population of Húsavík.

Is the gym growing – if so by how many new members each month or year?
It has grown on average by 5-10 people a year. During the summer we see an increase in members, as well as some people who move into town just for the season.

What are the highest and lowest belt grades training?
The practitioners are white-purple. The coaches are both brown belts.

When did BJJ North, Iceland open?
Early 2021, just in time for Covid closures.

Some facts about you:

Name: Andri Dan Traustason
Age: 32
Belt: Brown
Profession: CFO
Years in BJJ: 15 (with a few years’ break)
Other martial arts: Dabbled in kickboxing years ago
Currently living in: Húsavík
Originally from: Húsavík

Name: Kristján Gunnar Óskarsson
Age: 35
Belt: Brown
Profession: Psychologist
Years in BJJ: Almost 9
Other martial arts: No
Currently living in: Húsavík
Originally from: Húsavík

Please tell us the story of how your gym came into existence
Both of us moved back to Húsavík a few years ago, after living elsewhere for several years to pursue higher education and work. After moving back to town, we wanted to start a club both to introduce other people to the sport, and frankly for an opportunity to train ourselves.

Within a few months, a decent amount of mats had been bought, a room in the town’s gymnasium was booked, and the first beginner’s course was advertised. From that point onwards, the club has kept growing. We have now moved the club to a new space, built a subframe under the mats, and grown the overall mat area.

Tell us about the people that train in the gym – who are they?
It is a diverse group of people, aged 16-48, from several nationalities and backgrounds. Most are hobbyists, but there are a few competitive practitioners that have gotten podium finishes in tournaments, most recently in the last Icelandic National Championship.

Why do they train in BJJ North, Iceland?
Aside from their passion for BJJ and interest in improving their skills, they train for their health, wellbeing, and entertainment.

What are some of the challenges of running a BJJ gym in general, and in your area specifically?
Since the club is run on a volunteer basis, the classical issues of funding etc. are less important for us than many other clubs. In our case, the issues are usually related to the specific circumstances of the club. For instance, the diversity of the practitioners is of immense value for the club, but it also brings certain challenges. Since we have a relatively small group but a large spread in technical capacity (white to purple), it can be challenging to set up classes in a way that benefits everyone.

How do you see the future for BJJ in your area?
The number of practitioners has grown a lot since the club was founded, but the growth has tapered off now as the group has become more established. We currently only have classes for adults, but this is likely to change soon. Later this year, the club will start offering classes for children and teenagers, which will boost our numbers again.

Having said that, we are happy with the reach of the club. A large percentage of the adult population of the town (≈2-4%) either currently trains with the club or has given a beginner’s course a try, so we are happy with how the sport has spread within the town in just a few years. Assuming we manage to maintain some growth, BJJ will become one of the biggest sports in the area soon.

What’s the best thing about BJJ North, Iceland?
How personal and close-nit it is. Everyone is welcome so long as they treat others with respect.

What would you recommend Globetrotters to see in your area apart from the inside of your gym?
Húsavík is very well placed as a hub for sightseeing in the area. The town is located on the shore of Skjálfandi Bay, which is world renowned for its whale population and whale watching. So much so that it was recently named a Hope Spot by Mission Blue. Additionally, the town is within a short driving distance of many amazing nature spots, including Dettifoss (UNESCO site and Europe’s most powerful waterfall), Mývatn, and geothermal hot spots.

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Thanks for sharing! If you’d like to visit BJJ North, Iceland you can contact them here.

Joshua Macri – BJJ Globetrotters

Age: 40
Belt: Black
Profession: BJJ Instructor
Started training (year): 2006
City/country: Weaverville, NC USA

 

Main achievements in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu:

The things I’m most proud of in my BJJ career are related to teaching.  I ran a huge Jiu Jitsu school for 6 years where I was able to start teaching kids and helping them love BJJ.  I’m most proud of having started my own school after that and building a gym culture I really enjoy.  I suppose it’s notable that I lived in the closet of a BJJ school for 3 years.  I haven’t really done anything super flashy and that’s not really my style.  I just love that I’ve done something cool for 18 years and met a lot of awesome people along the way. 

 

 

Which Globetrotters camps have you attended:

I have attended USA Camp 3 times, Arizona Camp twice, Beach Camp, Zen Camp, and Winter Camp.  USA Camp is my favorite and Winter Camp is a close second.  All the camps are great but I like when we all stay in the same place.

 

Which camp has been your favorite so far?

USA Camp is my favorite and Winter Camp is a close second.  All the camps are great but I like when we all stay in the same place.

Joshua Macri – BJJ Globetrotters Winter Camp

 

Favorite stories/moments from the camps?

My favorite story from USA Camp is actually really tame compared to the camp.  Jay Pages sat with us all through our lobster dinner and we were just spraying lobster juice everywhere.  Jay just casually says “yea I am deathly allergic to shellfish” and then just keeps hanging out.  I was pretty sure I had found my people.  

  My favorite story from Winter  Camp was when a legion of middle aged people descended upon an Austrian dance club.  All the kids were basically well behaved and having a nice time and then we all showed up drunk.  Next thing you know there are mostly naked old guys hanging from the ceiling and crowd surfing for no apparent reason.  I was found wandering around in my t shirt trying to figure out where the hostile was.  Good times. 

 

The best part of every camp is the friends you make.  I’m writing this from the airport on my way to visit Angel who I met at USA camp.  My traveling companion is Frederik, a Swede I met in Arizona and then again in Parnu.  I’ve made lifelong friends at these camps and that’s the wildest story by far. 

Joshua Macri – BJJ Globetrotters camp

Your favorite class/classes to teach at camp? 

My favorite classes to teach so far have been Creativity in Submissions and Arm Drag Hub.  It’s my goal to teach different stuff each time so every class feels like my favorite.

 

Anything else you want to add to your profile:

 I love visitors from globetrotters at my gym.  If you are a coach then please come out and have a seminar.  If you are a student then please come visit.  We will train hard and go see some pretty things in the NC mountains. 

***

Joshua Macri – BJJ Globetrotters instructor

Where is the gym located?
We are located in Port Orange, Florida, the city right next to the world famous Daytona Beach.

How many people train there?
We currently have 45 consistent members training with us.

Is the gym growing – if so by how many new members each month or year?
The gym is growing, we add around 10 new members a month.

What are the highest and lowest belt grades training?
We have all skill levels training here, from “never stepped on the mats” white belts to black belts.

When did Stadium MMA, Florida open?
I opened the gym two years ago this month (March).

Some facts about you:

Name: Kelly Green
Age: 49
Belt: Brown
Profession: Gym owner
Years in BJJ: 14
Other martial arts: Besides BJJ I also have trained Muay Thai in combination with MMA since day 1
Currently living in: Port Orange, Florida, USA
Originally from: Rochester, New York

 

Please tell us the story of how your gym came into existence
I had moved to Thailand to live and train permanently, and was back visiting my sister to get a new visa. She asked me to stay for a few months and then we got the Covid shutdown. This threw a wrench in my living in Thailand, and when I was fed up with cancelled flights and regulations changing daily I decided to move back to Florida where I had lived many years ago. I wanted to share all that I learned training at Wand Fight Team in Las Vegas and my time living and training in Thailand. I flew down to Florida for a week and found the location to open my gym.

Tell us about the people that train in Stadium MMA, Florida – who are they?
The students are from all walks of life, like most of the gyms. We definitely see more of the very new to combat sports type of people. We pride ourselves on being a place without cliques and where everyone feels confident and welcome.

Why do they train?
The people who train at Stadium MMA are just like all of us. They all train for their own reasons, from getting in better shape, mental well being, and some to test themselves and compete in combat sports.

What are some of the challenges of running a BJJ gym in general, and in your area specifically?
The biggest hurdle in running a BJJ gym is the same as any business that has competition – making yourself stand apart from the rest.

 

How do you see the future for BJJ in your area?
BJJ in our area will continue growing, and we hope that anyone with interest will give it a shot and find a spot in the perfect gym.

What’s the best thing about Stadium MMA, Florida?
The best thing about our gym would be our students and the acceptance of anyone with an interest in giving training a shot, no matter what their personal reasons are. Everyone is welcome here.

What would you recommend Globetrotters to see in your area apart from the inside of your gym?
We are in Florida, so the beach of course! We’re also within an hour or so of all the theme parks and the Space Centre. There’s tons of stuff to do in the area.

—-

Thanks for sharing! If you’d like to visit Stadium MMA, Florida you can contact them here.

Arnoud Terpstra – BJJ Globetrotters

Age: 33
Belt: Black belt
Profession: Jiu-Jitsu coach, Breath coach
Started training (year): 2008
City/country: Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

 

Main achievements in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu:

I won some medals here and there and trained at some cool places. But nothing comes close to seeing my students grow and succeed. Starting my academy and giving others a place to train and work on themselves, but also providing people a sense of community, a chance to form friendships and see new places is the most fulfilling thing there is. This is my main achievement and ongoing goal.

 

 

 

Which Globetrotters camps have you attended:

I’ve been to two camps so far: Spring Camp in Tallinn and Summer Camp in Heidelberg. So I’m still new to the whole Globetrotters family!

 

Arnoud Terpstra – BJJ Globetrotters instructor

 

Which camp has been your favorite so far?

Tough choice! Both were amazing experiences! It would be a coin toss. Maybe Heidelberg was the slight favorite because I could take my dog with me, haha.

 

Favorite stories/moments from the camps?

So far I had two similar experiences at the camps, where I walked around on the mat and when things suddenly hit you. You look around, taking it all in, seeing hundreds of like-minded people from all over the world doing what they love and connecting with each other. It’s hard to describe, but it made me realize that these camps are something truly special and that it is so much more than just training jiu-jitsu together. And that for me, when I think about it, these jiu-jitsu camps are – strangely enough – not that much about jiu-jitsu but more about other things.

 

Your favorite class/classes to teach at camp? 

So far I’ve only taught one class, on the front headlock and arm-in chokes. People seemed to like that class so it will definitely be an option for Spring Camp. But overall, I’m a huge fan of the ideas that guys like Priit Mihkelson, Chris Paines and Wim Deputter teach. It’s material that I like to teach to my students at home as well. But, me teaching that material at camps would just make a cheap rip-off of those guys so I will come up with something else ;). Hey, I might even teach a class on the twister this year haha. I have to come up with something else!

 

Arnoud Terpstra – BJJ Globetrotters Summer Camp

 

Anything else you want to add to your profile: I am really looking forward to this camp, joining some cool classes, meeting new people and seeing old friends! Also, if you happen to find yourself in The Netherlands, I invite you to pay a visit to our gym. We welcome all visitors and love having students/instructors over from other teams! See you all soon! *does shaka*.

***

Arnoud Terpstra – BJJ Globetrotters instructor

J.P. Maechler – BJJ Globetrotters

Age: 37

Belt: Purple for a long time :-)

Profession: Mechanical Engineer

How many years in BJJ: Around ten

Other martial arts: I did five years of Muay Thai before starting BJJ and two years of Judo when I was young. (Shouldn’t have stopped Judo… would help me now for BJJ)

Where do you live: Zürich, Switzerland

Where are you from: Zürich

Other fun or curious information you would like to share: I look grumpy but if you get to know me I’m a nice person ;-) I also blog about my travels at www.bjjtravelblog.com

Tell us what inspired you to travel and train?
I love to travel. In my early twenties I started to explore Europe, and soon I made it to the US. For me it was clear that I needed to see more of the world. So I told myself that I would take every opportunity to travel for as long as possible. Shortly after I started BJJ I went to a bachelor party in Vegas, and right afterwards I went to LA and Miami. A teammate told me I should train while I’m in the US, because especially those places are hosting some of the best in the world. For me it was the first time in another gym, since the club I trained in at that time didn’t allow us to train in other gyms. From that time on it was clear that I would include training to my travels.

Tell us about your most recent travel and your upcoming travel – where have you been and where are you going?
I just came back from a 6.5-week trip through Southeast Asia. I visited Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand, and in total I managed to train in 12 academies during that time.

The next thing planned is a trip to Florida and the Bahamas.

J.P. Maechler – BJJ Globetrotters

What are the things you enjoy about travelling?
It’s easier to get in touch with local people while training. I love to learn about new cultures, the history of the countries, and of course I always try local food.

Can you give us some examples of experiences you had that makes it worth traveling and training?
At the end of 2022 I went to Central and South America. I planned my trip as far as Mexico, where I met a friend I made once at a BJJ camp, and during my time there (in Guadalajara) I planned how to continue.

I had the phone number of a black belt in Medellin from Christian, so I messaged him and told him I’ll be there in around 2 weeks. He said that I was welcome to train when I’m there, and asked me where I will go before coming to Medellin. I told him Panama, and a second later I had the number of a black belt in Panama City. I then contacted that guy and went to PC for training.

While I was there he also asked me about my plans and I said maybe Bocas del Toro. “Amazing, a student of mine has a gym there and another one has a guest house!” He gave me the number and I was ready for Bocas. In Bocas the trainer gave me a number of a guy in Quito, and in Medellin I got another number for Riobamba. More or less my entire trip took form thanks to the BJJ community. Every place I went, I had someone I knew who showed me the local stuff.

What has so far been the most surprising experience for you when traveling?
In Manaus I trained at the gym of my friend’s sister. Even though we couldn’t really communicate they were super friendly, and after training they asked me to go for an açaí. We drove somewhere where I wouldn’t go on my own. We stopped in front of a garage and I saw a sign I recognized from somewhere. We entered and it was her father. For me it was the first time in my life seeing a Coral Belt. We took some pictures and he invited me for wrestling training the day after. Then we all went for an açaí and the sister also invited me to a party the gym was throwing the next day.

J.P. Maechler – BJJ Globetrotters

Are you a budget traveller – and if so how do you plan for a cheap trip?
I try to do something in between. I like to save money and find affordable accommodation, but I can’t stay for too long in a shared dorm. Also I try to avoid long bus rides – for journeys like that I normally end up in an airplane.

If you were to pass on travel advice to your fellow Globetrotters, what would it be?
Always check if you need a visa with your passport, or if there are any other restrictions for entering a country. More than once I had trouble entering. Look in advance for places to train and ask the community for information. Be open-minded and good things will happen.

Thank you to J.P. Maechler – BJJ Globetrotters for making this interview!

Age: 29

Belt: Blue

Profession: Software Engineer

How many years in BJJ: I had my first class in September 2017

Other martial arts: I have had very short stints trying boxing and Muay Thai. I have vague memories of doing karate as a kid too. But with the time that I have, I chose to focus on BJJ. Originally it was a way to keep active and meet people when I moved countries.

Where do you live: London, England. I moved here in July 2017.

Where are you from: Dublin, Ireland

Other fun or curious information you would like to share: I have a lot of metal in my body – 18 screws and a pair of rods through most of my spine. I had scoliosis etc. as a kid, so at 16 I had a pretty major operation (two actually) to get it corrected. A bonus was that I became three inches taller overnight! It doesn’t really affect me day-to-day or in BJJ. I know my limits and there are certain movements that are troublesome (my berimbolos are not a pretty sight) but I have found a way to train around it.

I also really enjoy running. It took quite a while for me to actively enjoy it but I have found it to be one of the best things for my BJJ cardio without taxing the body as much as just doing more rounds and now I have it as a core part of my weekly activity.

One day I would like to get into teaching BJJ. If I wasn’t a software engineer I probably would be a teacher. Right now, I’m just focused on collecting as much knowledge as I can from people in the BJJ community.

Tomás Barry – BJJ Globetrotters

Tell us what inspired you to travel and train?
I tend to travel quite a bit throughout the year. Whether that’s going back to Ireland or somewhere further afield, I wanted to find a way to keep training while I was gone. The first gym I ever went to was CVA JiuJitsu in Edinburgh, and Ben Fletcher who runs it was extremely welcoming. From that experience I realised that I could learn a broad range of styles of BJJ by dropping into gyms when I’m on the road. So far I’ve been to about 35 academies across 23 countries.

I’m not a competitor, but what I’ve found is that by training in a new gym your “game” is put to the test in a similar way (without the pressure of a competition). You will naturally build a game and instincts around, and for, people at your own gym but when you train in a new gym this all goes out the window and you can really see how effective your BJJ is.

Tell us about your most recent travel and your upcoming travel – where have you been and where are you going?
I’ve travelled quite a bit in December and January. I spent some of December in Colombia. After the new year I came back to London as I then had to hop over to the west of Ireland where I was the best man at a wedding followed immediately by a trip out to the Caribbean camp. I’m looking forward to a more settled February (although I do have to travel back to Ireland one more time).

I have two other camps booked for 2024 already – Maine and Camp 100. On top of that I’ll be visiting a friend in Rome and I would really like to do some interrailing around a bit of Europe. You’ll see me posting on the Globetrotters Facebook page looking for suggestions on where to train.

Tomás Barry – BJJ Globetrotters

What are the things you enjoy about travelling?
It’s a bit cliche, but I love to meet new people and learn about the history of a place. It really opens your eyes to what the world has to offer. We also have such a strange community that is both incredibly niche but simultaneously spans the entire globe – you can always find somewhere to train.

Can you give us some examples of experiences you had that makes it worth traveling and training?
If it wasn’t for Globetrotters I don’t think I would ever have visited the Faroe Islands. That was such a surreal trip and I am very glad that I did it.

One of my favourite memories actually is from Estonia when I posted into the Globetrotters group to see if any other early arrivals wanted to meet me in the local Irish pub (I’m yet to find somewhere that does not have an Irish pub) to watch the All-Ireland Hurling final. I counted 6 different nationalities coming to watch a sport that they’d never seen before. It was really fun to share that experience with others.

What has so far been the most surprising experience for you when traveling?
We’re not all that different from one another – we all want to live happy and fulfilling lives and although that may be an obvious statement, until you see the diversity that this world has to offer and the breadth of people that inhabit it you won’t truly appreciate how special it is to be able to connect with people from all corners of the globe.

When it comes to training, I have found it amazing that there is such a wide variety of people and styles. I can’t think of any other sport where you can do one round with a brand new white belt and the next with a top level professional competitor. It’s pretty wild.

Tomás Barry – BJJ Globetrotters

Are you a budget traveller – and if so how do you plan for a cheap trip?
I’m not a budget traveller but I am conscious of my spending. Ideally everything would be cheap but some things are worth opening your budget on and balancing elsewhere – if I have to spend a bit more on accommodation but I’ll save time and money on daily commuting it can work out as a net positive. I’m also more willing to bite the bullet on a ticket/expense while travelling if it’s going to be a now or never type thing. Saying that, you need to find what works for you and what is important to you. Fancy restaurants aren’t my jam but I have had really good experiences with guided tours. If I’m going somewhere more remote where the apartment is essentially just the bed then I will go cheaper.

If you were to pass on travel advice to your fellow Globetrotters, what would it be?
Be open. Even if you visit somewhere that you ultimately don’t like, you will have had an experience. Use the Globetrotter community! A few of the gyms that I have visited have come as a result of me asking in the Facebook group or people that I’ve met at camps. Word of mouth is still the best way to get a recommendation. Try not to spend your time sleeping in – you can do that at home.

Thank you to Tomás Barry – BJJ Globetrotters for making this interview!